D+102 Kovalam (India)

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We decided to leave Trivandrum on a Sunday expecting the traffic to be a little lighter - wrong. Although it was only 10 miles to Kovalam it felt like 50. It is incredibly hot and humid here which has the effect of draining the life out of you. That said we really enjoyed getting back on the bikes and it was a great experience riding on the Indian roads. It is still out of season and it will get a bit cooler we hope in a few weeks. To help with acclimatisation we are not taking rooms with aircon but I think it's going to take at least a week before we can do any serious distance again.
Yesterday we sorted the bikes out. The only damage I found was the rear lights on my bike were broken and beyond repair. I'm sure they were OK when we left the airport so they must have been damaged when we put them on the taxi roof. As most of the traffic doesn't use lights at night its no great loss to us at the moment and we have a rule of never cycling at night anyway.
Again we have been incredibly lucky in finding accommodation. When we arrived in Kovalam we decided to get some breakfast as it was still quite early. The waiter in the cafe asked us if we had somewhere to stay and suggested the hotel next door. With nothing to lose I went and checked it out. As you can see I think we have had another bargain. The room with a balcony overlooking the sea has cost us 50 pounds for 7 nights which we think is a very good deal.

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